December 20, 2009

My favorite time to of the year! Christmas! I love everything about the season and I have certainly gotten into the holiday spirit this year! We did finally get our tree up last weekend but my nativity is still not put together! Yikes! Best get to that today!!!!Here is a peak of some of my favorite ornaments as they were sitting on my coffee table waiting to be hung on the tree. Our tree is decorated with an ornament from each year of my life as well as handmade ornaments made by me, my mom and my grandma which of course are all very special to me. All of my annual ornaments are very special too because I have been collecting them since I was born! Every year I have gotten an ornament that my Mom either picked out when I was too little or I picked out as I became old enough too. And since getting married Danny and I have continued that tradition. This year our ornament is the one we got when we went on our recent trip to Montreal! What sort of ornaments do you decorate your tree with?Here is my Santa collection! Totally have to control myself to not buy every Santa I see! And hopefully someday when can redo this area of our living room! Those are fake bricks...seriously!!!

And here is our tree in all its festive decor!

OK! Now onto some scrappy projects....I just wanted to share several of my most recent projects using the fabulous Magistical Memories chipboard and Crystle clear acrylic shapes.

My first is a Christmas ornament I created using the Jumbo Nesting Stars and Holly Frame. I simply cut off the frame part and added glitter and gems to the holly leaves.

For this project I created a children's book using the Barn Book. The story is one we all know well....the nursery rhyme "Old MacDonald had a farm"! I used my Silhouette to cut out the farm animals...aren't they just adorable?!Patterned paper: October Afternoon

December 9, 2009

Looking for Christmas gift wrap ideas? You have come to the right place! Today I am sharing with you an elegant gift wrap idea I created using a new, empty paint can I got at a hardware store. I altered the outside of the paint can using the St. Nick line by Bo Bunny. When I showed it to my dad he thought it would be excellent if it was filled with Christmas cookies! I think that was a hint for me dont' you?! LOL!!!

Below the images I have posted a supply list and instructions so you can create one too! I have also included some close ups of the 3D St. Nick and instructions on how to create that element as well.Supplies:Patterned Papers: St. Nick Sleigh, St. Nick Mistletoe, St. Nick Sugar Plum, St. Nick NoelRibbon: Double Dip EvergreenVintage Santa Image: Royce Bair on Smug Mug(If you search that site you can purchase images for personal use at a really decent price!)Large paint can (approximately 8 inches tall)Punches: Martha StewartAdhesive: Hot Glue Gun, double sided foam tape, Yes! glueDistress Stickles and Glitter Glue

Instructions:1. Cut sixteen 1.5 inch x 7.5 inch pieces of patterned paper. (I cut 4 from 4 different patterns.)2. Adhere them to the paint can slightly overlapping them and not putting glue on the part that overlaps.3. Punch six-eight 12 inch strips from cream colored patterned paper and cut them to .75 inches in height.4. Spray each strip lightly with water and ruffle fold it.5. Hot glue these around the top and bottom edge of the paint can.6. Hot glue 3/8 inch ribbon on top of the punched strip around the top and bottom.7. Punch a strip of patterned paper making it long enough to run along the paint can handle.8. Hot glue this strip along the handle.(I punched one 12 inch strip and another 5-6 inches and glued them together. I then trimmed any excess once I had finished gluing it to the handle.)9. Hot glue 5/8 inch green ribbon on top of the punched strip you just glued to the handle.10. Tie 2 bows from the 5/8 inch ribbon and hot glue them onto each end of the handle.3D St. Nick instructions:1. Download the image and print it 6 times on matte photo paper.2. Cut out varying sections of the image layering them to create depth based on their position in the original image.3. Between each layer apply double sided foam tape to create more dimension.4. Apply Distress Stickles to background image and Glitter glue to Santa's beard for extra sparkle.5. Mat image on cream colored patterned paper and then on red paper.6. Adhere to front of paint can.

I hope these instructions are helpful and clear. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me via Facebook.

If you are looking for other Christmas gift wrap ideas be sure to check out the Bo Bunny blog for more inspiration!

December 4, 2009

Hi and happy Friday!!! Just wanted to share a LO I created using the new Bo Bunny Persuasion line! I started playing with it, and now I am seriously in love with it! The color combination's of the Bo Bunny lines always win me over and this line has such fun whimsical patterns that can easily be offset with some of the stripes or monochromatic patterns that are part of it! Today our challenge was to create a project using BUTTONS in Christmas colors (such as red, green, pink, blue and white). Well I decided to step outside the box and created a LO that was about me and D. I had recently saw a LO I had created several years ago about when he proposed to me. Then I remembered a recent photo we had taken and I thought it would be fun to do a "then" and "now" LO!Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great weekend! I plan to get my Christmas tree up this weekend, so I know the house is going to be a mess for a day or so until it is finished! This is my favorite time of the year and I can't wait to get our house decorated for Christmas! Do you have your tree up yet?

P.S. Oh, and don't forget to check out the Bo Bunny blog to see how the other designers stepped up to this challenge! Plus, I think there might be a little challenge posted for you too!

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FTC COMPENSATION DISCLOSURE STATEMENT | I am blessed to work in an industry I love. In the spirit of full disclosure, I am currently working as a freelance designer in some capacity for the following companies: 3 Birds Studio, BoBunny, and Elle's Studio. While I am compensated by these companies, either monetarily or in product, I maintain the freedom as an independent designer to say what I truly think of their products. I will never recommend something that I don't personally use and enjoy. This site does incorporate paid advertising and affiliate links.